Zanzibar, Tanzania (2018)

Zanzibar, Tanzania (November 2018):

• I spent 5 relaxing days in Zanzibar with my parents during low season and it was great
• We rented a 4x4 with the company ZanCars (great deal for $25 per day plus $10 for the driving permit) and visited several spots around the island

Main places visited:

• a) Stone Town - Prison Island
• b) Nungwi
• c) Jozani Forest
• d) Paje
• e) Kizimkaze
  

a) Stone Town - Prison Island:

• Birth place of Freddie Mercury, Stone Town was considered at some point a protected Unesco city, even though the city is not properly taken care
• Best of the capital is walking through its small streets and appreciating the cultural influence from Arabs, Indians and Europeans
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From Stone Town there are many companies offering any kind of tour around the island
• In our case, as we had a rented car, we only went for Prison Island, (we got a deal for $10 per person) where they had prisoners in the past but host giant turtles nowadays plus a beach and some snorkeling activities
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

b) Nungwi:

• In our opinion, Nungwi has the best beach in all Zanzibar
  
• Later during our trip we realized that beaches in the east and south of the island are affected by a huge difference in tides, meaning from 10am to 2 pm we could not really go into the sea for a swim
• However in Nungwi, at the north, we could enjoy the beach at all times, with great sunset and it was a very nice area with several restaurants and life
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We spent here 2 days, one of which we joined a snorkeling tour ($15 per person)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• However we were a bit dissapointed with this activity as they promised seeing dolphins plus drinks on the boat, but they completely escaped the part of the dolphins and then they were charging for the drinks 

c) Jozani Forest:

• After 2 days we drove the east coast, stopping at a few different locations but the tide made difficult to enjoy the beach during the day, so we went to Jozani Forest where we could see the red colubus monkey, exclusive from Zanzibar, and the mangrovesxx
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

d) Paje:

• We spent another 2 relaxing days by Paje
• The area when we tide was fine (early morning and afternoon) was beautiful
  
  
  
  

e) Kizimkaze: 

• As we could not really enjoy a few hours in Paje during the day, we went to Kizimkaze, a popular beach where some local guys organize dolphin sightseeing tours (we got a deal for $10 per person in low season)
• We did not trust much but the experience was beautiful, and I was even allowed to jump into the water and see about 10-15 dolphins under me
  
  
  
  
• Hope this post helps :)